


Jealousy With A Chance of Misunderstandings

by autumnchills



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Buck, Bisexual Eddie, Coming Out, Ficlet, Fluff, Getting Together, Jealousy, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-30 09:43:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21426169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnchills/pseuds/autumnchills
Summary: Buck’s never been one to shy away from his sexuality or the truth of it. The team knows he used to sleep around a bit, but he’s also had healthy relationships. They just happen to only know about his heterosexual relationships.—When Buck runs into his ex-boyfriend Casey at Hen's birthday party, new information comes to light about more than just Buck.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Original Character(s)
Comments: 44
Kudos: 1534
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	Jealousy With A Chance of Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

> **Background Info:** Casey is real and was featured as the gay firefighter from the 115 in "Hen Begins," where he mentions dumping an ex and finding a new boo. My fic says, Buck was that boo 🤪

Buck’s never been one to shy away from his sexuality or the truth of it. The team knows he used to sleep around a bit, but he’s also had healthy relationships. They just happen to only know about his heterosexual relationships. After his last relationship before joining the 118, he’d stopped dating until Abby, and she’d taken a while to get over, so it just hadn’t been an option.

It’s not an intentional thing, but Buck knows there can be a different stigma surrounding men who like men, so it’s easier to simply not share than waste time reminding his friends that he’s not checking them out in the locker room. He remembers his ex’s stories of how his team first treated him. And while he knows that there’s little discrimination in this station, it doesn’t mean there isn’t any at all.

So when Buck mentions exes, he mentions the girls, and sometimes he mentions the guys, but he’s careful to keep the gender out of the conversation. It’s not on him if they assume Casey and Alex are girls. 

The truth comes out anyhow— no pun intended— at Hen’s birthday party. 

Buck isn’t sure why, but he never really pictured Hen to have so many friends outside of the team and their significant others. It’s a pleasant surprise, but part of him is nervous around so many other adults that he doesn’t know. Maddie is with him, and after greeting and wishing Hen a happy birthday, they scan the crowd for their friends. The nerves break when he sees the rest of the team along with Athena. 

“Hey!” he shouts as they approach them. “Did you guys know that Hen knows this many people?” Eddie just shrugs and Bobby tilts his head with a slight smile. Chimney ignores him in favor of greeting his sister.

“That sounds kind of rude,” the captain says. 

“Oh! No, that is definitely not what I—” Bobby’s laugh cuts him off.

“I’m messing with you, Buck. There are a lot of people here that she’s never talked about. I’m surprised as well,” he admits. 

“To be fair,” Athena says, “a lot of these people are friends that Hen met through me or Karen.”

Bobby looks at her with speculation. “You mean you have friends that I don’t know?”

Buck laughs now, too, and is about to ask Eddie where he got the beer he’s holding, but a hand holding one pops up in his peripheral.   
  
“Want a drink?” The group collectively turns to look at the man behind Buck, and Buck himself can hardly believe his eyes.

“Casey?” he asks in surprise.

The man just smirks at him and raises the beer again. “Hey, Evan.” Buck gladly accepts the beer and then a hug. Everyone looks confused aside from Athena. Her mouth is still hanging open when Casey moves to hug her, too.

“Evan,” she says slowly but not to Buck— she’s speaking to Casey. The man nods in response. “This is your Evan?”

“Your?” Eddie pipes in. No one pays him much mind, but they all seem to be wondering the same thing.

The man— Casey as they now know— laughs at Athena and nods again.

She slaps a hand over her mouth and turns. “I have to tell Hen!” She runs off in the direction she last saw the woman, leaving the shocked team behind.

“So, how have you been Evan?” Eddie mouths ‘Evan?’ at the team. Bobby and Maddie are watching Casey with a wild fascination, but Chimney is watching Eddie watch Buck. The poor dude looks like he’s just had his world turned upside down.

“I’ve been good,” Buck answers. “I don’t know if you know, but I actually ended up joining the academy. I’ve been a firefighter for a while now.”

“No shit?” Casey gives him a light punch on the shoulder and Buck just laughs.

“So,” Eddie clears his throat, “are you going to introduce us,  _ Evan _ ?” Buck doesn’t miss the tone, but he’s in too good of a mood to bother with it.   
  
“I’m sorry guys,” he says quickly. He puts his arm around Casey and pulls him into his team’s circle. “This is Casey. He works at the 115, and uh…” Buck trails off a bit nervously. “He’s my ex.” 

Everyone’s eyes widen a notch more than they’d already been, including Maddie.

“‘Ex’ has such negative connotations, though. We ended on really good terms with mutual understanding.” 

Maddie is the first to recover and sticks her hand out to shake his. “Well it’s really nice to meet you,” she smiles at him. “I’m Buck’s sister, Maddie.”

The two shake hands, but no one else gets the chance at introductions before Athena is returning with Hen hot on her heels, the two women with huge grins on their faces.

“Casey!” Hen practically screams. “Oh my God! This is your Evan?  _ The _ Evan?”

“ _ The  _ Evan?” Eddie questions, once again going unheard.

“Yeah,” Casey laughs.

“We are definitely lost,” Bobby butts in then. “So Casey is Buck’s ex? And he’s ‘The Evan’— whatever that means. Anyone care to explain?”

A realization falls on Hen’s face then, and she turns to Buck with a soft gaze.

“Oh,” she says slowly. “Buck, sweetie. You… you weren’t out to us.”

Casey seems to realize this just now, too. He glances at Buck’s friends, then back to him. Their initial reactions to him being Buck’s ex make more sense now. “I am so sorry,” he quickly apologizes. “I had no idea you weren’t out. I shouldn’t have assumed.”

Buck swallows the lump in his throat and shakes his head. “No, it’s okay. I mean— It wasn’t like I was trying to hide it,” he explains. “It just didn’t matter before.”

“How does it not matter that you like guys?” Eddie questions, practically spitting out his words. Everyone’s heads snap to him, and Eddie realizes the way it must’ve sounded based on their expressions. The only one who doesn’t look like they’re about to rip him to shreds is Chim.

It’s the look on Buck’s face that nearly crushes him, though. His chest aches knowing that, whether he meant to or not, he’s just hurt his best friend.

He tries to correct himself. “That is  _ not _ —”

“Not  _ what _ ?” Hen interrupts Eddie, her head tilted and eyes narrowed. 

“Okay, I’m just going to step away for a minute,” Buck says, pointing over his shoulder. 

Eddie tries to interject again, but Bobby gives him his disappointed-dad face and shakes his head. 

“If you gotta problem, you can talk to me about it later,” Buck finishes. The hurt is thick in his voice, and he retreats without any protest from the others, Casey following closely behind. Maddie looks like she wants to follow after him, but Chimney holds her back.

“Do you want to explain yourself?” Maddie asks, crossing her arms with a very big “don’t test me” attitude.

“Yes,” Eddie insists. “You guys should’ve let me two seconds ago because now he’s going to think I have a problem with it,” he groans.

“You don’t?” Bobby challenges. “Your whole attitude said otherwise, and we weren’t about to let this turn into something right now.”

“Oh my God,” Chimney laughs, interrupting the conversation. “Are you guys that clueless about what’s going on?” 

Eddie covers his face with his hand and mutters something under his breath. The others turn to Chimney with intrigue.

“You know what’s happening?” Hen challenges.

“I don’t see how you guys don’t,” he smiles. He glances at Maddie and even she looks confused. “I especially don’t see how you don’t,” he says to Hen. “Your gaydar must be broken.”

“Buck only ever mentioned women,” she says slowly.

“Yeah,” Maddie adds. “Before Abby, there was Alex, Devin, Cas— oooh…” she trails off. The realization settles over the group. “Those names are  _ unisex _ !” she hisses in surprise. “So many things make so much more sense now.”

The others nod along, but Chim clarifies, “But I’m not talking about Buck. I mean Eddie.”

Eddie scratches his chin, wanting to be anywhere but here, but also wanting to clear up what just happened.

“Eddie,” Hen starts, “you’re—”

“Bisexual,” he finishes. “Yeah.”

It takes a moment for that to sink in. Hen has always done her best in avoiding assumptions because she knew how that could be damaging, but this seems to be coming out of nowhere.

“Then why did you react like that about Buck?” Athena asks what most of them are thinking.

“Oblivious,” Chimney mutters. “All of you. He clearly likes Buck, and now he knows he has a chance. What he didn’t know was that he always had one.”

“And you just knew how everyone felt?” Hen asked.

“No,” Chimney admits, throwing his hands up. “I actually had no idea about Buck.”

Eddie lets out a heavy sigh and takes a big swig of his beer.

“Yeah,” Maddie nods, eyeing Eddie. “We all need drinks.”

—

It doesn’t take long to find Buck after everything is cleared up. He’s inside near the kitchen, chatting with Casey and what looks like some of the guy’s friends. 

With Buck’s back to him, he eyes the two, wondering how to approach. He doesn’t mean to be obvious about it, but Casey catches on, having been facing his general direction. The man’s face falls and he leans forward, whispering to Buck and nodding in Eddie’s direction.

_ Shit _ .

Eddie turns to leave, but Buck is already charging toward him.

Before he can get a word in, Buck has him by his shirt sleeve and is dragging him toward one of the rooms. He doesn’t release him until the door is shut and Eddie stumbles. 

“Okay,  _ Diaz _ , what’s your problem?” Buck demands, jabbing his finger into Eddie’s chest. “If you have an issue with me liking guys then you’ve got another one coming.”

Eddie shakes his head quickly. “No,” he assures Buck. “I definitely don’t have a problem with it.” 

Buck’s shoulders slump slightly, his whole posture relaxing. Eddie can still tell that he’s tense, though. “Then what the hell was that earlier?”

Eddie shrugs. “I was mostly just shocked. I thought you were straight. You basically just turned my whole view on our friendship upside down.”

Buck visibly recoils at that. “I’m still the same person,” he whispers. “I’m not one to make unwanted advances.”

“That’s—” Eddie groans in frustration. “You are far from my problem here, Buck.”

“Then what is the problem?” Buck asks, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.   


Eddie takes a deep breath and paces around the room. He feels Buck’s eyes following him. He didn’t want to tell Buck like this, but if there’s any other excuse to explain his behavior earlier, he can’t think of it. 

He halts in his movements, still feeling Buck’s gaze on him. In a single fluid motion, he turns to Buck and steps into his space. Buck steps back out of surprise and bumps into the wall but makes no move to push Eddie back.

Eddie’s hand rests on Buck’s chest and he can feel how fast his heart is beating.

“I like you,” Eddie whispers. Buck’s heart nearly stops, but the man continues on. “I have for a bit, but I never made a move because I didn’t know you like guys.”

Eddie can hear Buck’s shaky breath, and they’re so close that he can feel Buck’s soft exhale brush across his face.

“I didn’t know if I had a chance,” Eddie adds. 

He waits for Buck to say something, but the younger man doesn’t respond. Eddie feels his own heart racing.

“C’mon, man. Give me something. Tell me to fuck off or tell me if I have—”

“A chance?” Buck finishes with him. Eddie nods slowly, eyes drifting to where his hand rests because he can’t look Buck in the eyes. 

Buck’s soft laughter rings in his ears, and Eddie looks up. 

“Yeah,” Buck whispers. “You have a chance, Eddie.” 

Eddie lets out a breath of relief, and then a moment later laughter follows suit.

“We’re idiots,” he comments.

“Definitely,” Buck agrees.

“Can I kiss you now?” he asks.

“Definitely.”

**Author's Note:**

> Special Thanks to my beta reader: AngelSweeney13
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy this lil ficlet! I wrote this the other day on a whim and after the idea had been in my head for almost a month lol.
> 
> Please leave comments and kudos, as they always encourage me to write more! If you feel I missed some necessary tags, please let me know what it is I should add.


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